Migrant and Other Influences on Foreign Content in Dutch Nineteenth-Century Cookbooks
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
From Spaansche Pap to Tipsy Cake: Migrant and other influences on foreign content in Dutch nineteenth-century cookbooks MA THESIS Master of History (Migration and Global Interdependence) Kathleen Henry s1493965 Supervisor: Professor Marlou Schrover Word Count: 29234 Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2 2. Historiography and background 6 i. Migrants and food 6 ii. Cookbooks as historical source material 8 iii. Dutch food baseline 10 3. Materials i. Cookbooks 14 ii. Other 20 4. Methods 21 5. Contexts i. Migration 28 ii. The importance of the middle class 38 iii. Towards a cosmopolitan identity 40 iv. Fashionable trends 42 v. Modernisation, industrialisation and globalisation 44 vi. Political developments 47 6. Results 50 i. Migration 52 ii. Modernisation, industrialisation and globalisation 64 iii. The importance of the middle class 73 iv. Fashions and trends 77 v. Towards cosmopolitanism 82 vi. Political developments 87 vii. Results summary 92 7. Conclusion 95 8. Bibliography 97 1 INTRODUCTION Food is essential to our physical survival. From it we obtain fuel for our bodies and brains. Yet it is also very important to the construction and maintenance of identity.1 What and how we eat can signal our membership of a particular group, our adherence to a certain religion or of course our socio-economic status. In many Western societies, debates over our eating patterns, and whether we are indeed ‘what we eat’ are prevalent in both popular and academic circles. In the case of the Netherlands in the twenty first century, these debates have centred on the ‘worth’ of Dutch national cuisine,2 and on international contributions to this cuisine, such as rijsttafel and kapsalon. This paper will focus on the latter point, and will draw on historical sources to seek to understand how ‘foreignness’, in the form of recipes, was included and excluded from nineteenth century Dutch cookbooks. The key question posed therefore is: Why did the foreign content in Dutch cookbooks vary over the course of the nineteenth century? Foreign recipes are the principal type of foreign content seen in the cookbooks. In particular, the paper will investigate the role played by migrants in influencing the cuisine presented in these cookbooks. The nineteenth century has been chosen as it was a time of significant social and economic change in the Netherlands, and the century encompasses many of the key dates in industrial development. In the first half of the 1800s, the Netherlands was politically transformed from the Batavian Republic, to a part of France, to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands under an absolute monarch to finally a constitutional monarchy within the present day borders. Importantly, for a study which relies on cookbooks, this was also a century of growth in the production and use of cookbooks, primarily driven by growth of the middle class.3 The focus on the nineteenth century means that this paper will provide a useful historical counterpoint to modern day studies on food and migrant foodways. This is the first study to cover the Netherlands from this perspective in this period. By concentrating on the experience of the Netherlands, a country of low immigration in the nineteenth century, this 1 Nathalie Parys, ‘Cooking up a culinary identity for Belgium: Gastrolinguistics in two Belgian cookbooks (Nineteenth century)’, Appetite 71 (2013) 218-231, 218. 2 Dam, Johannes van, Witteveen, Joop, and Gnirrep, Yvonne, Koks & keukenmeiden : Amsterdamse kookboeken uit de Gastronomische Bibliotheek en de Bibliotheek van de Universiteit van Amsterdam (Amsterdam 2006) 27. 3 Nancy Reagin, ‘The Imagined Hausfrau: National Identity, Domesticity, and Colonialism in Imperial Germany’, The Journal of Modern History 73:1 (2001) 54-86, 60. 2 paper will add to the rich selection of food histories focusing on countries of higher immigration, most noticeably the United States.4 This study will examine how foreign communities and their ideas in the form of recipes were perceived. In the paper, the following hypothesis will be tested: Changes can be at least partially attributed to the presence of migrants in Dutch society. To ascertain the influence of migrant communities, the relative impact of other factors must also be studied. External political events, fashions and trends, class ideology and the increasing interest in sophisticated cosmopolitanism all played a role. By investigating these aspects, the paper aims to provide an overview of the key internationalising stimuli on Dutch cookbooks. However, there is insufficient space to cover all the applicable dynamics. Those covered in the paper are indicated in Table 1. Table 1: Factors influencing inclusion of foreign content in Dutch nineteenth-century cookbooks. Factor Covered in this paper? Migration Yes Development of cosmopolitanism Yes Fashions and trends Yes Industrialisation and technological developments Yes Political developments Yes Growth of the middle class Yes Change in availability of food products Yes Globalisation Yes Modernisation Yes Variations in the economic climate No Consumerism No Changes in gender roles No Foreign trade connections No Source: Analysis of nineteenth-century developments This paper identifies a number of reasons for the ways foreign content in the cookbooks changed gradually over time. Importantly, the influence of migrants can be detected, demonstrating that, even in low numbers, migrants have a part to play in cultural and culinary innovations. Additionally, my research reveals that the inclusion of foreign content in the cookbooks is indicative of greater acceptance of new elements within Dutch identities. 4 See for example Hasia Diner, Hungering for America: Italian, Irish and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration, (Cambridge 2001) and Donna Gabaccia, We are what we eat. Ethnic food and the making of Americans. (Cambridge Massachusetts/London 1998). 3 Scholars have written in depth about the important place of food in human consciousness. Supski explains that food as a significant site of memory and positive nostalgia can connect the past to the present.5 Wilson argues that the aphorism ‘we are what we eat’ should also be read as ‘we are what we ate’, arguing that food and drink history is the lifeblood of social cohesion, integration and differentiation.6 To determine what we ate in the past, historical investigation is required. This can be fraught with danger. The popularity of food based memoires is an indication. Janowski notes that in such texts memories can be real or imagined.7 Further, the importance of food to the construction of national identities means that eating traditions can be deliberately constructed.8 Many commodities and food products are marketed today by highlighting their historical pedigree and cultural heritage.9 There are many ways to explore the history of food. Import and export data, inventories, menus (on a wide spectrum from grand houses to orphanages and the army) and oral histories are just some of the many available data sources. For this paper, cookbooks have been chosen as the primary focus. More detail is provided in the Materials section on the precise cookbooks chosen. These books provide a means to examine implicit attitudes to foreign foods and cooking techniques. Through reference to this medium, the degree of cross- cultural culinary contact in the nineteenth-century Netherlands can be explored. In particular, the role of migrants in facilitating or impeding such contacts will be a focus. The study will provide a useful perspective of the place of migrants and other foreign connections in Dutch society. This is not to say that positive findings about the popularity of migrant dishes indicate the acceptance or assimilation of the migrant group.10 The situation is much more complex. However, as the prominent migration and food historian Donna Gabaccia has argued, the 5Sian Supski, ‘Anzac biscuits A culinary memorial’, Journal of Australian Studies 30:87 (2006) 51-59, 37. 6Thomas Wilson, Introduction: Food, Drink and Identity in Europe: Consumption and the Construction of Local, National and Cosmopolitan Culture’, European Studies 22 (2006) 11-29, 14-15. 7Monica Janowski, ‘Introduction: Consuming Memories of Home in Constructing the Present and Imagining the Future’, Food and Foodways: Explorations in the History and Culture of Human Nourishment 20:3-4 (2012) 175-186, 176. 8Anneke Geyzen, Scholliers, Peter and Leroy, Frédéric, ‘Innovative traditions in swiftly transforming foodscapes: An exploratory essay’, Trends in Food Science & Technology 25: 1 (2012) 47-52, 48. 9 Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire and Pádraic Óg Gallagher, ‘Irish Corned Beef: A Culinary History’, Journal of Culinary Science & Technology 9:1 (2011) 27-43, 28. 10 Jan Arend Schulp & Ismail Tirali, ‘Studies in Immigrant Restaurants I: Culinary Concepts of Turkish Restaurants in the Netherlands’, Journal of Culinary Science & Technology, 6:2-3 (2008) 119-150, 120 and Marlou Schrover, ‘Wie zijn wij? Vrouwen, eten en etniciteit’, Voeden en Opvoeden, Jaarboek voor Vrouwengeschiedenis 19 (1999)115-144, 123. 4 acceptance and enjoyment of cross-cultural food can provide a path towards acceptance of cultural diversity.11 In the Results section I will reveal how my findings compare with the theories presented in the historiography. Given my hypothesis that migration did play a role in the selection of recipes for the cookbooks, this topic is covered in the most depth. 11 Gabaccia, We are what we eat, 231. 5 HISTORIOGRAPHY AND BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY On the nineteenth-century